I'll Start Out Walking and Learn to Run
by SplatDragon
Summary: Kasey had always been the black sheep of the family. Moving out to start a farm, marrying someone her parents didn't approve of. She'd always been the good girl, doing what her parents wanted. So even she was surprised when she'd signed up for the Rancher Initiation on Castanet Island, following in Kasey's footsteps. She was determined to prove them wrong.


When it comes to moving it's a general rule that, no matter how excited you are for the move itself, the actual action of moving will be tedious, agonizing, and stressful.

And, of course, her move to Castanet Island was no different, no matter how much she and her brother Kasey had tried to make it otherwise.

She'd been, for the most part, packed for well over a month, sending her things over over several months, so that she'd only have to unpack once she got there, instead of having to worry about forgetting anything. Kasey wouldn't be sticking around once she left, would see her off to her boat and then catch his own boat: he had his own farm to care for, after all, and Vaughn couldn't look after his animals forever. So if she forgot something she'd have to hope that her soon-to-be-ex landlord would send it to her, and seeing as the new tenants would be moving in not long after she had a very small window to find anything missing.

"Gloves?" her brother asked, and she rifled through her backpack.

"Got 'em." she made sure the glove had its mate (it did), before zipping her backpack up and setting it on the floor. "That's everything, then." Kasey crossed through the final item on their checklist, looking it over a final time to make sure that they hadn't forgotten to write down anything important. All she needed, then, was a water to drink in his truck on the road.

The clock chimed, then, and they needed to leave if they wanted to catch their boats. Before she could grab her backpack, Kasey did, slinging it over his shoulder—she glared at him, the man sticking out his tongue in return.

_'Brothers!' _she shook her head fondly, tromping down the stairs after him. In the time it took her to grab the last two water bottles in the fridge, he had loaded up their backpacks in the bed of his truck with their suitcases, reclining against it with a smirk: she'd wanted to do it, since he'd snuck out early that morning to do the same with the suitcases. She'd wanted to do it, but he had always had to one-up her.

Jackass.

Throwing him the finger ("Love ya too!") she clambered into the passenger's seat of the truck, leaving the door open to catch a breeze. The woman could hear Kasey whistle sharply, and a puppy's high pitched bark in return, patting her lap as a little white Dalmatian pup darted up to the side of the truck. "Up up Holly," she commanded, and the puppy—a going away gift from Kasey ("I'm your big brother, it's my job to get you your first animal!")—scrambled up into her lap, panting as she plopped down, the woman finally closed the door.

Kasey clambered into the driver's seat, then, starting the truck with a clang and a clatter, Highway to Hell beginning to blast. The woman glowered at him. He flashed a grin at her as he backed out of her driveway, reciting "Driver picks the music,"

"Shotgun shuts her cake hole." she finished with a sigh, looking out her window. Holly panted excitedly, staring out the window, and absentmindedly she scratched behind the puppy's ears.

They sat in silence for a time, watching as the city faded into the country, until Kasey suddenly broke the silence, "So, Castenet huh?" he snickered.

She raised an eyebrow, saying "Yeah…" suspiciously. Where was he going with this?

"They going to assign you an instrument?" her brother chuckled, "make you play in their town-townwide band? Assign you someone to teach-teach you to play?" he laughed so hard he had to wipe away tears, shaking his head. "I feel bad for their ears!"

The woman didn't deign to look at him, continuing to look at the rolling fields when she answered. "_No_, it's just a name. Don't you live on the 'Sunshine Islands', anyway?" she turned her head just enough to stick her tongue out at him.

Lucky for him, they arrived at the docks, then, so he didn't have to come up with a rebuttal. He parked the truck as close as he could, asking the name of the boat as he scanned the boats: she was busy putting a red collar and leash on a wiggly Holly.

Without looking up, finally managing to clip the collar shut, she responded "_The Bass_," ignoring his muttered 'the hell kind of a name is that?' as she hopped out of the truck, letting Holly do her business so she didn't have to deal with it on the boat. Kasey went to work unloading her things (he would be taking his truck on his boat), and she grabbed her backpack before he could, approaching _The Bass _with both him and Holly at her heels.

A bald man leaned against the hull, straightening up as we approached. Sticking out his hand, he accepted her ticket, confirming "Miss Evangeline?"

Evangeline nodded, "Yes, that's me," and he put the ticket in his pocket, a white haired boy walking over and taking her suitcase from Kasey after patting Holly on the head. The dog all-but flailed in glee at the attention, flopping onto her side in hopes of more.

"I'm Pascal," the man offered his hand to first her, then Kasey, "That's my boy Tobi, don't mind him, he's a quiet kid."

Kasey grinned, "Nice meetin' you sir, name's Kasey." He could be a real dick to her, but he was a farm boy through and through and treated his elders with respect—even, if you asked Evangeline, when they didn't deserve it.

Evangeline spoke up, "Call me Evan, everyone does." and Pascal nodded, adjusting his wicker hat as he checked the time.

"You ought to say your goodbyes, we'll be heading out soon." He patted them both on the shoulder as he walked up the plank to, presumably, give them some privacy.

And it suddenly felt _so real_, she had never been away from home before and now she was going to cross the whole damn ocean and _live there_. Was this how Kasey had felt? No, no she didn't think so, he had always been the more adventurous out of the two of them, the one who was always down with a broken leg or arm from trying to climb a tree or do a dumb trick on a horse despite the stable they'd taken lessons at forbidding it for exactly those reasons. And then Kasey's pulling her into a tight hug and she's not thinking about that anymore.

"Call me when you dock, okay? Just so I know you got there safely. If your phone doesn't have service, we had that land-line installed, remember?" and if that isn't the Kasey-ist thing ever she doesn't know what is. They fight like cats and dogs but, in the end, they _are _brother and sister and love each other more than anything.

She hugs him back, "I know, I know, I will," and if he wipes his eyes she doesn't say anything. Evangeline will miss him too, they'd not seen each other in ages but she'd really enjoyed having him stay with her for that month, and desperately wants him to visit her as often as he could once she was settled in.

He releases her, reaching up to wipe his eyes. "I love you, you little shit," and she barked a laugh and punched his arm, repeating the sentiment a bit less rudely. "Be safe, okay? I'll miss you, and I'll miss you a lot more if you die."

That earned him an eye roll, and she stepped back when she saw Pascal waving at her. "We can video chat tonight, okay?" he nodded, and they both said goodbye. She watched as he walked back to his truck, a pain in her chest as Holly whimpered and whined and tried to follow him, only turning and boarding the ship once he had safely driven away.

Tobi came back, wordlessly guiding her to her bunk. At her door, his gaze lingered just a hair too long on Holly, and she grinned and offered him to pet her. He did so happily, crouching down and roughing her up, scuffing his hands along the sides of her head and murmuring things she couldn't catch under his breath. It was rather endearing, she had to admit, and she only went into her bunk when Pascal yelled for Tobi to come above deck and help him.

The bunk was incredibly spartan, but it would do seeing as she would only be on the boat for a handful of hours. Her backpack dropped on the bed, she pulled out her headphones and unclipped Holly from her lead, letting her explore the small room. Trusting her not to make a mess (the pup was a mess, but she'd taken to house training easily), she stretched out on the bed, popping in her headphones and dozing off quickly, having had an early start and knowing she'd be up late so she could get a start unpacking.


End file.
